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As part of its Better Future programme, BT is engaged in long-term strategic partnerships with a number of charities, including Children In Need, Comic Relief and ChildLine. Another of these is fundraising umbrella organisation the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which marks its 50th anniversary this year.

As a global first responder the DEC must be able to act quickly and effectively, and so it partners with several large companies that go together to make up its Rapid Response Network.

Through its role in this network, which forms part of BT's Improving Lives programme, BT has worked with the DEC for over 15 years. In that time, BT has helped the DEC respond to an array of emergencies, including during the Haiti Appeal of January 2010 and the more recent Syria Appeal of March 2013, helping to raise over £20m between the two. This week, BT will help the DEC celebrate its 50th anniversary with an event at the BT Tower.

Saleh Saeed, chief executive at the DEC says that knowing his organisation can count on a company like BT is crucial.

"For big disasters like the [Indonesia] tsunami or Haiti earthquake, we need a reliable partner, especially in how we do our appeals. BT provides assistance for us around the telephone call centres and donations platforms such as MyDonate, which does that remarkably well".

MyDonate is BT's free online fundraising platform. It charges no fees or commission, meaning the charity gets 100% of any donations. For Saeed, the efficiency and trust that comes with MyDonate and the BT name is "critical. This is the beauty of it - the ease with which it allows people to support our work and build trust with our donors".

Liz Williams is programme director for Improving Lives at BT. She believes BT's partnership with the DEC is about realising shared aims.

"It's very much about BT technology enabling the DEC to do what they do best, and that's what our Improving Lives strategy is all about".

BT has worked with the DEC through many crises down the years but for Williams, the most memorable was the record breaking £10.6m raised over 24 hours in 2004.

"The biggest highlight for me has to be the Boxing Day Tsunami, when the DEC and BT established the Guinness World record for the most money donated online via a website in a 24 hour period. The combination of the UK public's response, the DEC springing into action and BT technology was fantastic".

Using BT technology to raise record breaking amounts of money is also a key goal of the of the Improving Lives programme.

"For each theme of Better Future, we have a clear goal for 2020", says Williams. "That goal for Improving Lives is using our skills and technology to help generate one billion pounds. We're at £59 million after year one".

In addition to platforms like MyDonate, BT also provides assistance in other ways. Through its Emergency Response Team it helps to re-establish communications in places they may have been severed, such as in Pakistan after the 2010 floods there. Another is BT Troubleshooter. This is a programme that allows charities to 'borrow' BT employees to provide assistance on everything from viral marketing to realising increasing efficiencies. Right now the DEC is currently in discussion with BT about how it might avail of the service to help it use social media better, a phenomenon Saleh Saeed describes as "both a challenge and an opportunity".

"If we don't grab the opportunities offered by new media and new technology generally, we could fall behind. Partnerships with companies like BT help us manage this successfully".

Jonathan Andrews is a specialist adviser on corporate partnerships. He says that long term ones like that of BT and the DEC have unique strengths.

"One is the ability to plan for the long term. Another is it allows for the exploration of opportunities beyond the initial terms of the engagement".

One of the most important things to be aware of, according to Andrews, is the fit between corporate and charity.

"It's about trying to recognise a marketing or brand values fit but without fabricating one. The relationship between BT and DEC is a great example of a strategic partnership delivering major benefits for both parties. The DEC wants the public to be able to donate quickly and securely, and BT delivers exactly that. And for BT this partnership demonstrates how communication and technology change lives. So it enables them to deliver on their commitment to creating a 'Better Future'".

For Liz Williams, BT's main focus is on the future, and the continued realisation of shared value between it and the DEC. "It's great to be able to celebrate with the DEC. BT has a long history of working with good causes to improve lives. We want to build on the work we've done and we're setting big ambitions for the future. Our vision is to help improve hundreds of millions of lives globally through our products and people. We're looking forward to another 50 years".